Project Report

(PS II)
Water Treatment Plant
(WTP)
GRASIM (SFD), NAGDA (M.P)
 Project Title

Efficiency Of Water Softeners

Department :- Water Treatment Plant (WTP)

Under Supervision of :- Mr. Sudhir Pareek Sir

By
MD EJAZ ANWAR
B.E (CHEMICAL), BITS-PILANI

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Why we require water Softening ??
Hard water :- When water is referred to as 'hard' this simply means, that it contains
more unwanted minerals than the required and as per the GRASIM standards. The
degree of hardness of the water increases, when more calcium and magnesium comes
along with raw water.
Magnesium and calcium are positively charged ions. Because of their presence, other
positively charged ions will dissolve less easily in hard water than in water that does
not contain calcium and magnesium, Hard water is known to clog pipes and to
complicate soap and detergent dissolving in water.

Water softening is mainly done to provide soft water to our various units in our Plant
(Viscose, Spinning, Auxiliary, CS2) where hard water cant be used for the reasons of
quality of viscose product, scale formation and promote galvanic corrosion and also
fouling in turbines which directly affects the output of the system hence increases
unwanted losses in the system

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What is water Softening??

Water softening is the removal of hardness in water which is caused by calcium,

magnesium, barium, strontium, iron, sodium and zinc ions, here mainly we need
to get rid of calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) ions in the raw water

Water softening is usually achieved using Zeolite, lime softening or ion-exchange

resins, Other approaches include precipitation methods and sequestration by the
addition of chelating agents.
We have systems ( softening tank units ) which works on the principle of ion-
exchange resins using Na-225 as resin .

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What is water Softening??
Chemical reactions Involved

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 Softening Process contd..
Steps involved :-

1. Backwashing :- It is the first cycle of regeneration. The water flows into the valve, down the
riser tube and out through the collector. The water then flows up through the resin and washes
the turbidity and to loosen the resin bed. It is important to mention here that WTP and Demin
Plant are recycling backwash water completely. Hence backwashing does not lead to any
sort of water wastage resulting into an efficient ion-exchange system.

2. Resin Charging (Regeneration of resin):- After the exhausting of the resin bed i.e. the
resin bed has lost almost all of its sodium(Na+) ions in exchange process, we need to recharge
the resin bed with the brine solution ( 10% NaCl solution with specific gravity 1.07) which we get
from the CHEMICAL DIVISION as their waste. The charging time varies from 30-40 mins based
on the conditions such as hardness coming in raw water, current water demand.

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Softening Process contd..

3. Slow Rinse :- Slow rinsing comes as third step in softeners

regeneration which provides sufficient time for reactions to take place. Slow
rinse timing is generally equal to the charging time for better regeneration
4. Fast rinse :- Fast rinse is the last step in regeneration process, main
purpose for fast rinsing is to make the resin bed compact with the high flow
of water and washes out the the excess brine and hardness(Impurities) from
the bed
During Slow and fast rinse water enters from the top and flows
down through the bed with different flow rates for each case

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Note:-Above shown image(Regeneration cycle) to is up-flow or Counter
Flow charging though we have down-flow charging system at WTP
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 Quantitative Analysis
Among the four steps Backwashing and charging plays a vital role in softeners
regeneration and the timing of these two steps are simulated as per the soft water demand
and raw water condition for e.g. during raining seasons we receive more impurities in raw
water from the river hence more backwashing time is required and resin exhausts early
than the average time

My key role :- To study the softening process and vary the backwashing and charging
time for a particular softener
( softener 9 ) and analysing its effect on the exhaust period

Exhaust Period :- Hardness level exceeds the minimum (20-25 PPM) allowed and resin
bed needs to be recharged

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 Quantitative Analysis Contd..
Tria Pre- Backwa Charging Slow Fast Post Run
l Backwash sh Time Rinse Rinse Regeneration Time
No Hardness Time (Min) (Min) (Min) Sample Analysis (Hours)
(PPM) (Min)

Hardness 22 ppm
1 27 50 20 20 30
pH 7.5
22

2 Hardness 16 ppm
20 60 30 30 40
pH 7.1
24

3 Hardness 14 ppm
23 70 40 40 50
pH 7.2
26

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 Quantitative Analysis Contd..
Trial Pre- Backwa Charging Slow Fast Post Run
No Backwas sh Time Rinse Rinse Regeneration Time
h Time (Min) (Min) (Min) Analysis (Hours)
Hardness (Min)
(PPM)
Hardness 08 ppm
4 24 80 40 30 30 Ph 7.5
28
5 Hardness 07 ppm
26 90 40 30 40 Ph 7.6
28.5
Hardness Inches Total
(Raw water Of Weight of
from filter) Brine used Brine used
0-100 PPM 2 80*2=160kg

150-250PPM 3 80*3=240kg

210-300PPM 4 80*4=320kg
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Quantitative Analysis Contd..
100
90 Graphical Analysis 90 90
80
70 70
TIME(MIN)

60 60
50 50
40 40 40 40
30 30
20 20
10
0
22 24 26 28 30
EXHAUST-PERIOD(HOURS)

Backwash Charging

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Conclusions..
From the shown Graph it can be concluded that among all five set of
backwashing and charging timing Backwash time-90 min and charging of 40
min is most efficient among all
Backwash of more than 90 min does not have any considerable impact on the
exhausting time also it may have harsh effect on the resin life.
Brine is required as per the incoming hardness from the filter water systems
pH of the processed water remains around 7-7.5 hence processing water do not
contain any acid/basic character

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Ambiguities..
Lack of Flowmeters:- we dont have any flow meters embedded at the
Running inlet/Backwash outlet lines of softeners hence it becomes difficult to
analyse how much volume of water is processed during each rum time.

Pressure Gauge:- Pressure gauge required at Running inlet/Backwash

outlet line for better monitoring of the processes involved

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Recommendations..
Automation :- Semi/Fully automated valves can be used in place of manual ones
for e.g. we can attach a tripping system with the valves which will trip down with
hardness level crossing the required limit
Up-flow(Counter-flow) Brine charging:- With up-flow brine charging i.e. brine
flowing from bottom to top while charging results in most regenerated part lying at
the bottom of the resin bed which acts as polisher and provides very less hardness
leakage however it may lead to lifting of resin bed
High capacity Softeners:- We have 18 softeners running simultaneously with
each of capacity of around 3500 litres resin which makes it prone to errors , We can
have Larger capacity softeners with less count for easy operating and reduced
manpower
Re-Utilisation of Rinsed water output:- Water output from rinsing cycles is not
utilised back due to its harsh nature( very hard and saline) which is still a challenge
for us, However once it was tried to be utilised in MCHP but due to some issue
related to moisture it didnt go further.

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References
1. http://www.grasim.com/investors/downloads/Grasim_Q4FY12-13_Presentation.pdf

2. http://hardsoftwater.com/industrial-effects-of-hard-water/

3. https://www.watertechonline.com/benefits-of-soft-water/

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Thank You
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